NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Years ago I was teaching a series of basic Chamoru language classes for The Hurao School, what they call Eskuelan Mañaina. These are the classes that are required for parents of children in the Hurao after school, summer camp and now charter school. They have taken on different forms, and sometimes are attended by dozens of people, sometimes a handful of people. They goal has always been to encourage the parents of children in Hurao's programs to learn and use more Chamoru, to support their children who are also learning. It is one of the sad realities, that some children have been stunted in their language growth because after being immersed in Chamoru at Hurao, they return home and then are surrounded by English.  Nowadays these classes are much more organized and sometimes are divided into different levels of learners, but when I was teaching some of them, it was everyone, fluent, not yet fluent, elders, all mixed together. Sometimes we were able to focus on lessons, drills, act...

I have too many things to do this week to waste much "ink" on Dave Davis or his case on this blog, but that doesn't mean I am not writing about it in other forms. Here are some articles about the Davis case, the Respect the Chamoru People Rally and also a recent letter to the editor connecting Davis' case to a longer history of disrespect that Chamorros have experienced. ****************************** Appeal Made in Plebiscite Ruling by John O'Connor Guam Daily Post April 8, 2017 "A lot of the Chamorros here and the community feel (the ruling) was an attack on them, calling us racists for not allowing somebody to register to vote in our plebiscite or register land." – Amber Benavente-Sanchez, rally organizer Hundreds of people descended on the pristine front lawn of the governor's office at Adelup late yesterday afternoon to join the "Respect the CHamoru People" rally that was being held in response to a March 8 District ...

The first monthly General Assembly meeting of the Independence for Guam Task Force will take place this week, Thursday, August 25th from 6 – 7:30 pm at the Main Pavilion in the Chamorro Village in Hagåtña. The public is welcome to attend, merienda will be provided as well as presentations, educational materials and a chance to join the Independence for Guam Task Force in its ongoing educational campaign. A General Assembly meeting of this type will be held each month. This first gathering is in honor of Ed Benavente, a Chamorro language teacher, a former Maga’låhi of Nasion Chamoru, and a fervent supporter of independence for Guam, who passed away last month.

At the funeral for Maga'låhi Ed Benavente today, I got a chance to talk to former Governor of Guam Felix Camacho. When Felix Camacho was first elected the group Nasion Chamoru was in decline in terms of its political power. Angel Santos had been elected into the Guam Legislature years earlier and formally left the group. Nasion itself had continued to fight and gotten a number of reforms implemented around land for the landless and for families that had lost land after World War II to the US military. Felix Camacho, seeking to make a sort of peace with Nasion Chamoru, which had been a notorious thorn in the side of the previous administration, reached out to Ed Benavente and offered him a position in his cabinet. I remember that time well, as I had already started hanging out with members of the Colonized Chamoru Coalition and so I got to listen in while members of Nasion Chamoru discussed whether or not Ed should join with Camacho. I won't describe the deliberations in detai...

 I've been helping with the organizing of UOG's annual Puengen Minagof Nochebuena celebration for several years now. At first, I found myself very awkwardly participating, as much of the traditions involved, whether it be the praying of the nobena or the singing of Chamorro Christmas songs was foreign to me. I grew up in a home where we didn't make a bilen and certainly didn't go out into the jungle to obtain lumot for it. We sometimes sang some Christmas songs, but they were always in English and I was never really exposed to the exciting array of Chamorro Christmas songs, some of which are translations of popular English tunes (like "Similot" which is the Chamorro version of "Silver Bells") or gof katoliko na kanta siha, or Catholic Chamorro songs that feel like they were penned straight from the quill of Pale' San Vitores himself. As I grew up Seventh-Day Adventist, we didn't pray the nobena either.  Boñelos were a part o...

Sesso nina'triste yu' ni i estorian Maga'lahi Mata'pang. Matatnga na gerreru gui'. Ha kontra i Espanot ko'lo'lo'na i mamale' anai ti meggai na Chamorro kumokontra. Guihi na tiempo meggai mano'sun nu i inentalo', lao i meggaina manma'a'nao nu i atmas i sindalun Espanot. Tumachu Si Hurao kontra siha gi 1671, lao manguahlo'. Kana' ma ikak i Espanot, lao manggineggue siha ni un pakyo'. Mandinestrosa i gima'Chamorro siha, lao tumotohgue ha' sin danu i gima'yu'us Katoliko. Gi 1672 anai umannok Si Mata'pang gi i estoria-ta, ha na'hasso i taotao na debi di u mana'suha i taotao sanhiyong. Ha puno' Si San Vitores yan i ayudante-na, i halacha na mafa'santo na Tagalog as Pedro Calusnor. Si Mata'pang ha fa'nu'i i tiguang-na siha na ti manyu'us i gilagu, sina mehagga'. Gi minagahet esta i Chamorro ma tungo' este, lao manmaleffanaihon. Gof na'ma'a'se na i hiniyon...

“The Spear of the Nasion” Michael Lujan Bevacqua Marianas Variety 11/20/13 When I first began attending the University of Guam as an undergraduate, I had been off island for several years and so in a way, I was remembering and re-discovering Guam. When I had left Guam in middle school, I had never heard of Nasion Chamoru, but when I returned it was something that everyone seemed to have opinions about, mostly negative. Byt this point, the first Maga’lahi of Nasion Chamoru, Angel Santos had already successfully transitioned from activist to politician and was running for governor under the Hita banner. The height of Nasion Chamoru’s notoriety, when they were camping in front of Adelup and blocking access to disputed properties and getting arrested had passed several years before. Despite these changes in the group, there was still plenty of hate and vitriol left in how people talked about them. That first year I was at UOG, from parties, to the ...

Maga'lahi Ed Benavente is our last speaker for the Chamorro Experience gi Fino' Chamorro series! I am excited and honored to have him be our final presenter. I've been posting pictures of Nasion Chamoru and their actions all week on Facebook to help prepare people. Although Nasion Chamoru were reviled by many on Guam for years, their group nonetheless had a profound impact on Guam. I wrote extended essays on the impact of both Angel Santos and Nasion Chamoru for the website Guampedia this year. His talk will be tonight at 5:30 at the CLASS Lecture Hall.

Have you ever watched a movie or a television show where the main characters, the regular cast who you are supposed to digest aren't that interesting or engaging? Is it ever the case where minor characters, even those who maybe appear for just a scene or two, with simple cameos are more enticing? Even though they only appear for the briefest of moments, they are more interesting and draw your gaze more than those who lounge about on the screen seemingly without purpose. If you want to experience that feeling alot I suggest you start to read up on the early days of Spanish colonization of Guam. We know about those days through the accounts of Spanish missionaries and military officers. They wrote about their day to day activities, their hopes, their dreams, their fears and the lives of Chamorros around them. They were not anthropologists, they were not journalists and they were all incredibly racist and imperialistic. They did not see Chamorros through clear eyes, nor did they wri...